Blood to Snow
by FaiKazahaya
Summary: Yui, who just was brought to king Ashura's palace, took the name of his dead brother, Fai, with the promise to himself that he would reserect his brother. But what if someone else comes to claim Fai's spot in Yui's heart? Kuro/Fai
1. Fai

I suck at introductions to stories. I promise that it gets better-and if it doesn't, please notify me! I do not own Tsubasa.

* * *

Snow swirled around me in giant clumps the size of my hand. But, it was important to know that my hands were small in my youth, and thin due to my previous life of no food or water. I shivered as I recalled that time, such a short while ago.

_Fai._

Fai was my twin brother, the only person who could understand and love me. But he was dead. He died from falling off his apparently-inescapable tower.

I clenched my tiny fists. _One day,_ I swore to myself with a tightening of my jaw. _I'll give you back your life and your name one day, Fai. For now, I will use your name to mask our past. No one will know the pain we went through._

In the howl of the wind, I jolted at the sound of a cloak flapping. I turned, sensing the magic of the man who saved me.

As expected, King Ashura stood at the door of the room he had given me. It wasn't much—just had plain blue wallpaper and a white rug, and a bed and drawer for clothes. He'd promised to get me more furnishings as I got older.

The King had a peaceful eye about him. He always had this look, but it seemed to have doubled in the time he had gone.

"I have given your brother your hair, Fai," he told me, completing the task I had asked of him. I nodded, feeling my shortened blond hair bob as I moved.

"Thank you, Ashura-O," I murmured, stepping away from the balcony and into the warmth of the castle. The king knelt before me.

He grasped my shoulders. "Now you can begin anew," he answered encouragingly. "Starting with learning some magic, ne?" He gave my shoulders a squeeze and stood. King Ashura held out his hand for me, which I took without much happiness. My face remained cold.

"Yes, Ashura-O."

Ashura smiled sadly at my lack of warmth. He was the only one who knew of my troubled times.

"Let's get started then."

And the king, as calm and untroubled as ever, proceeded to walk me out my cozy little room, and led me to the heart of the castle, where years of magic-learning and training would take place for me. Where I would become a strong wizard for my brother, Fai.

If I knew pain, then I was prepared for whatever was to come in the near future. I squared my thin shoulders and walked beside King Ashura with attempted dignity. _I know pain,_ I told myself.

Nothing would sway me.


	2. False Hope

Thanks for your support! I know it was a slow start, but it'll get interesting soon!

* * *

I walked through the snow, it parting for me from the sheer length of my cloak. Flakes of the cold snow also drifted down from the dark gray sky. The only reason I wasn't freezing myself was because of my thick cloak, undercoat, and my warm gloves and shoes. In both my hands I gripped my staff, which was a few times taller than me.

This was Ashura-O's assignment to me—my very first.

_What did he tell me to retrieve again?_ I asked myself slowing to a stop. _He wasn't very clear about it…_

I couldn't help but sigh as I remembered our conversation a few hours ago:

"_This is your first mission outside of the castle..."_

"_Yes, Ashura-O."_

"…_And it is also you're most important."_

"_Why is it important, my king?"_

"_You'll be going out to collect an irreplaceable piece of your future—that's why."_

"_My king… what could this item be?"_

_The smile was thick in his voice. "You'll know what you're looking for when you encounter _it_."_

A puff of warm breath escaped my lips, coating my vision in mist. Ashura-O was, if anything, a crazy man. Mysterious—strange. I mean, what could I just happen upon and say: _"This is what I'm looking for!"_ and take it?

After a few more hours of pointless looking, I promised myself that I would turn right around and go back to the castle empty-handed. A disappointed Ashura-O was better than frost-bitten fingers.

I scanned my surroundings with my eyes. Snow, more snow, and rocks. What important item was found on a mountain with no people?

Ashura-O didn't, however, tell me to climb this mountain. He sort of let me out of the castle to chase my tail and wander aimlessly. Frighteningly, my magic had led me here. My staff pointed straight upward now, where it had pulled me horizontally to the west from the castle.

Whatever I was looking for, my staff said it was right above me.

But when I looked up—nothing! The dark skies and falling snow was all I could see for miles.

I lowered my eyes, reaching up to pull my coat's thick hood back over my head, where it had fallen. Snow melted into my eyelashes.

_A waste of time,_ I scoffed. _What was King Ashura _thinking_? Okay, so maybe he's prone to wasting my time on magic I already know, but this… this is too far!_ I turned toward the direction of the castle again, walking away from the spot. _I have to knock some sense into him—rude or not!_

My staff tugged me back a couple steps. I yanked it back roughly.

The staff went slack in my hands.

The sky rumbled darkly.

My magic senses sparked, and my head snapped up. Right above the spot I'd been standing, the sky shifted and sank on its own, like a translucent sack weighing against itself with water. The bag-like thing lowered down to the ground, snapping open on contact.

When the sky reassembled itself, I studied the spot that had touched down.

A huddled form groaned.

My eyes popped wide. It was _alive!_

No, not an it. When the figure rolled over, I saw arms and legs. This was a human! A _human_ had just opened a portal from the sky and dropped into this world. How was that _possible _without magic?

Then I noticed the blood.

It soaked through the person's thin black clothing, where it had acted invisible from my eyes, and soaked down into the pure white snow. This human was badly injured.

I froze, unable to move. Blood. Fai. Fai was dead. Fai's blood had spilled over me when he died. This person was going to _suffer the same fate as my brother!_

Not thinking clearly past the blood, I threw down my staff and struggled to pull the person up. On closer inspection, the person's face was that of someone my own age, but more angular. This was a boy.

In my eyes, I saw him as my brother before he'd died. Thin, raggedy, and smelling of death far before his heart had stopped.

"_Fai,"_ I sobbed.

The boy mumbled something inaudible.

"Don't worry, Fai, I'll help you. I'll get you help!"

He groaned.

Lowering the boy, I reached out for the staff. It was out of reach. I strained my arm to stretch as far as I could without letting go of the boy. _Fai, my brother._

My fingers brushed against the staff.

With one more reach, I dragged the staff over to me, casting a communication spell.

"Hello?" asked King Ashura's voice through the staff. I grimaced at his smug voice.

"My king," I said unsteadily. "I have found this 'important thing' you were speaking of."

The king paused to shout something over his shoulder. I couldn't quite make out what he said. Then, he answered: "Stay where you are, Fai. I've sent a man and two horses to come to your aid."


	3. Cursed Twins

The rescuing team was there in inhuman speed thanks to their magical abilities, and quickly the man hoisted me onto the extra shaggy, light blue horse. The horse shook its mane at the human boy, snorting mist.

My king's wizard fastened a cloth sled behind the horse I sat on. Then, when that was done, he pulled the bleeding boy onto it, fastening him in so the horse's movements wouldn't knock him out of the sled.

I was worried sick for the boy. So worried, I couldn't see past my brain's filter that made him my twin brother. My mind blurred around the edges.

The wizard patted me reassuringly on the knee. "He's secured, lord. Once we get him to the castle, he'll be treated for his wounds properly."

I nodded, not looking past the boy.

"You must be exhausted," the man continued, swinging himself onto his horse. They both immediately started moving, the horses gingerly walking down the mountain. The boy was hardly jostled.

I huffed in relief, my shoulders sagging. He was going to be alright. Fai was going to be alright!

I nodded off on the horse, right as they started running, smooth and sure.

For once, I hoped I would dream of my brother.

* * *

I awoke to a sharp jab. Something slick and wet covered my hair, cold but warm at the same time.

Could it be snow?

I shifted as I slowly gained consciousness. I couldn't feel anything. Everything was cold. I sneezed some of the cold from my nose, but it still remained. Where was I?

No horse would feel this cold.

I opened my eyes, immediately closing them again at the presence of bright light far above. Rolling over to my side, I coughed up some of the cold, and forced my eyes open.

The eyes of a wizard gazed unseeingly back at me.

I yelped, jumping away from the body. My escort and his horse both lay dead in the snow, covered in layers of ice. How long had I been down here?

I looked up; gawking at the depth of the hole we'd fallen into. It was amazing that I was still alive. When I looked down, I realized why—the other horse had broken my fall. Blood crusted the poor beast's muzzle.

I swallowed uncomfortably, thoughts of _the curse of the twins_ racing through my head. It was my fault, wasn't it? It was me who killed them. If only I wasn't a cursed twin. For a few minutes of silence I gazed at the dead bodies with thoughts of joining them. It wouldn't be hard. The dead wizard was bound to have a knife that could ensure the slow, painful death I surely deserved.

A groan snapped me out of my thoughts.

My head snapped around toward the noise. The sled was untouched!

_Fai!_ I ran to the sled, shoveling snow and ice away with my torn-up hands until they were bleeding and numb.

I froze.

Red eyes, dull and pain-stricken, stared back at me.

I was a fool, a stupid, idiotic fool to believe that this boy was going to be anything like my brother. He was much larger than me or my brother, with healthy muscle that spoke of intense exercise. His well-built body was lean, but not in the unhealthy way that my own still portrayed. Black spiky hair stood up on his head, falling limp in a few select places, and his eyes. Eyes that were as red as blood; they had an eternally haunted look about them.

His eyes—the expression he wore was the only thing that reminded me of my brother.

Slowly, like someone speaking to a deaf person, he spoke to me. His eyes were narrowed, like what he was saying was supposed to be threatening. But I couldn't understand. I could only hide my expression behind an innocent mask and shake my head. He snapped at me, punching the ground with his fist in anger.

Not thinking very well, I jolted towards him and grabbed his hand. "No," I moaned, my mask crumbling into a pained look. "Don't hurt yourself, brother."

Only a few moments later could I recognize my mistake. I shook my head quickly and snapped my hands away. No. He wasn't my brother. I can't act like this around someone who isn't my brother.

The boy gave me a questioning look.

Not one to break a silence first, I held my hands together before me in a praying stance, kneeling down and closing my eyes.

_He's not Fai._

_Don't let yourself believe in the lies._

_He isn't your brother._

I bit my lips, fighting a nauseating feeling that told me I was about to cry. I couldn't shed tears! The twins' curse caused this whole mess! It was _my _fault.

Something warm cupped the back of my head.

I opened my eyes to see myself reflected in the pools of red that were the other boy's eyes. He no longer had narrowed eyes, but his eyebrows were in a permanent _I hate this_ state.

He drew back the hand that was touching me, bringing with it crimson fingers.

Blood?

I reached for the back of my head and felt. Beyond the numbness, something warm and wet slid over my fingers. _My_ blood.

I brought my hands before my face, unable to look away from the red over them.

_Fai._

_Fai's blood._

_His blood covers me!_

The boy rapped on my head softly with a knuckle.

I met his eyes again.

He jerked a thumb up to the entrance to the hole we'd fallen into with an obvious _'Let's get out of here.'_

I glanced forlornly at the three dead bodies surrounding us. The boy clamped his hands on my shoulders hard, making sure I was paying attention to him, and then repeated his earlier gesture.

I nodded, unable to stop a few tears from falling. _My fault—it was my fault for their deaths._

He captured one of the tears with his finger—an unexpected touch. I froze, staring up at him. He gave me a look: _'Do I have your full attention now?'_

I grimaced.

He stood, wincing at the wounds that still covered his body. I was struck with another point that made him different from my twin and me: he was several inches taller than me, a good head and a half over my own.

I stood with him and shuffled over to my dead horse. The crystal on my staff glittered unhappily when I picked it up. Though the boy gave the staff a questioning glance, he didn't give me a look that would've told me to discard it. I took the chance to cast another communication spell.

Ashura-O's voice answered the spell with his un-changing calm voice. "Yes, Fai? I take it you're heading back?"

The boy turned to me with a sickened look at the staff. With an equally calm voice to mock the king's, I said, "not quite, my king. We have fallen into thin ice. No water, just a deep hole. Your man and horses are both dead."

This didn't seem to bother him. He answered with, "and the _important thing_?"

I quirked up an eyebrow at the staff. "Alive."

I could picture the king nodding his head approvingly. "I'll send another team out to collect you immediately."

"You know what?" I snapped, agitated at the king's disinterest in the deaths of _his own men_. "We'll just get out on our own, to ensure that none of your men get killed like this last one! Thank you!" I broke the connection.

I threw the staff down defiantly, growling at the floor of ice.

All the while, the boy never moved his eyes from me.

"What?" I barked at him, spreading my hands. "Are you hoping for an encore to my anger? What do you want me to do?!"

He shook his head at me.

I sighed. He couldn't understand.

"Alright," I exhaled. I imitated what he'd done earlier: jerking a thumb upwards. "Let's go."

He nodded, determination overriding everything else, especially the confusion. He understood _that_.


	4. Rescue Stampede

It took several painstaking hours of climbing to get up the mainly-vertical ice wall. I kept purposefully gripping the ice until blood flowed just to make sure I could feel what I was holding. Going numb would make me fall several meters down.

But wasn't death what I was hoping for?

I glanced down, meeting the eyes of the boy below me. To either make sure I didn't fall or to use me as a prisoner of sorts, he had insisted that I should climb before him. He could climb a lot faster than me, and he seemed quite impatient with my sluggishness.

He jerked his chin up. _'Keep going.'_

I turned my head back to the wall and forced myself a few more feet up. The sweat that clung to me quickly turned into frost on my skin, forcing shivers from me. Though this work-out was keeping me fairly warm, it was still painfully freezing.

Luckily, however, the entrance was only a few more yards up.

I pushed hard, ignoring the spots of dizziness that tried to claim my consciousness. Finally, _finally_, I pulled myself out of the hole. I sprawled over the snow a good meter away, panting.

The boy came up after me, hardly breathing hard and sitting cross-legged next to my huddled self. I curled up where I was, attempting to get warmer, and to block out the pain in my hands—which overshadowed the pain on my head. My body quaked with stress and unheard sobs.

_Dead. Dead. Dead._

The boy, seeming to understand, patted the unscathed part of my head reassuringly. _'There, there,'_ he seemed to say, though what really came from his lips was rubbish to my ears.

A sob choked from my crusty lips, and I looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. He smiled down at me, barely masking a look of irritation. _He's trying to cheer me up,_ I thought sadly. I licked my lips and swallowed dryly.

I tried for a smile also, to show him that I understood what he was trying for with that look.

He scooted closer, reaching over me and dragging me over to him. My smile faltered.

He opened his cloak and, though he was blood-covered, he wrapped it around me. He was so _warm_. I shivered violently, shuffling as close as I could get to him without suffocating myself. The boy wrapped his arms around me, his breath melting the ice in my hair.

My breath was quick and hasty. What was he trying with this? Could he have a knife to stab me with? My hands roamed over his hips. No belt. No weapons.

I forced myself to calm my breathing, inching my warmth-seeking hands higher. The boy shuddered. I laid my head on his chest, closing my eyes. He let me do this, though he was as stiff as a board. I was warm and comfortable in minutes.

_How could he be this warm?_ I asked myself, though hardly really thinking about it. He was warm—that was enough for me. All I was against at the moment was the sleep that threatened to overtake me. I could feel the sun going down.

I forced my eyes open reluctantly. If we didn't start heading for the castle, we would be forced to find shelter before the cold of night hit.

He seemed to sense my change in mood, letting me go and allowing me to pull away. I stood up and bowed to him in thanks. With a skeptic look, he nodded.

I turned in the direction of the castle, sensing the boy stand up behind me.

I turned my head halfway to him, pointing in the castle's general direction. "Home," I insisted.

He cocked his head at me. "H…ome?" he struggled. With a large smile, I nodded, even though I already knew that he still didn't understand what the word meant. An idea struck me suddenly.

Moving my finger until it was directed at myself, I murmured slowly, "_Fai._"

The boy frowned. "Fai," he repeated, with his same questioning voice. He blinked his red eyes, and then, after some apparent thought, he seemed to understand. He pointed at himself. "Kuro—"

Trumpets blared in the distance. We both froze.

A parade of horses and men were barreling in our direction, far in the distance. The trumpets must have meant that they saw us. Mountains of snow trailed behind them, matching their speed. They'd reach us in minutes.

I cursed quietly. _Ashura-O…_

The boy—Kuro-something—must have had some negative thoughts about the people. He reached behind him, grasped at air, then looked down and said something that was probably a curse. I made a note to remember the word for later.

Kuro-san balled his fists, glaring at the approaching stampede. He wasn't going to try to run? I tilted my head to one side at him, radiating curiosity. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. Confusion washed over him, and his raised arms lowered just a bit.

'_They aren't enemies?'_ he seemed to wonder.

I shook my head. I allowed myself a small look of annoyance at the rescue team, for Kuro-san's benefit, but I didn't imply anything that made these people seem like bad men. And when they finally made it to us, Kuro-san stayed exactly where he was. I shot him a grateful look.

But as they surrounded us, I changed my appearance. My face molded into my expressionless mask that I'd had so much practice on over the years.

Some of the palace wizards gave us horses to ride on, while the others stood around the hole in the ice, levitating their dead man and horses out of the drop. The living horses whinnied and pawed the snow anxiously. Red smeared the ice.

I watched the man and horses get wrapped up and strapped to some carrier horses. As I did this, another wizard threw a thick cloak over my shoulders, and I was hoisted up onto a mare that was as white as the snow, with a single black star on her nose. She snorted at the smell of death on my skin.

Kuro-san was offered a black horse with three parallel white stripes on his forehead. Instead of waiting to be lifted up by a waiting wizard, he snatched the reins from the man and jumped onto the horse with ease, as if he didn't have several wounds covering his body. His horse pranced around, nose lifted high and snorting mist. Kuro-san controlled him effortlessly.

With only one hand on the reins, Kuro-san strode up to me and my mare. My masked slipped into awe.

My mare gauged his stallion. They snorted at each other.

In return, Kuro-san gauged me. I looked away from the intensity of those eyes. He was obviously confused at why I had blocked my emotions around these men, and not him. If I was honest with myself, I knew it was stupid that I did. Showing my true self to a boy I just met was the same as showing it off to everyone in this world. I decided silently that I would put up my mask with Kuro-san, too, no matter what.

I couldn't afford any more mistakes.

He saw the change in my eyes, and it was clear that he wasn't happy with it. His eyes narrowed, as if threatening me to put away my mask _or else._ I watched him with seemingly indifferent eyes.

With an irritated sigh, Kuro-san jerked on his reins, leading the stallion away from me.

With his back turned, I couldn't help but slip a little. My gaze followed after him forlornly. _What have I gotten myself into?_ I thought dejectedly, following after him with a snap of the reins. My mare lashed at me sharply with her tail before complying.

The rescue team was ironically quiet as they followed us back to the castle.


	5. Kurogane

There wasn't anything I knew about this guy, except that he looked feminine, had silky blonde hair, and had the bluest eyes I had ever seen.

He had seemed to mistake me the first moment he saw me with those strangely dazed eyes, but then later when he'd finally saw me differently, he had acted like a worthy comrade. But now… he wouldn't even look at me.

It was all so confusing.

But here I was, following him and his men into territory that could very well be my enemy's!

I swallowed my un-warrior-like instinct to run, and let my steed wander into a canter. At my right, the boy—Fai—allowed his mare to do the same. His eyes pointedly hovered in the distance, carefully not looking in my direction.

I glared at his indifferent face. When we'd first met, he had seemed like a lost little boy! Now he held the maturity of an adult! I shook my head slowly in disappointment. He was better than that—to hide his true self from others.

And he wasn't even my worst problem! I had to find a way back to Nihon. My mother, father… Agonizing, I bowed my head. My stallion slowed in response. They were dead. I saw my father's arm, continuing to grip his sword even in death, and I saw my mother—I had carried my mother's corpse in my hand as I destroyed the beasts that were at fault.

And that arm—the holder of the sword that murdered my mother. I had to find that man and kill him. My hands tightened on the reins. The stallion nickered.

'_Pay attention to the task at hand,'_ my father's voice commanded me.

If I hadn't been trained for years at becoming a ninja, I would have jumped straight off my horse, but I still managed to make a noise of surprise in the back of my throat. I saw Fai turn his head to me from the corner of my eye.

Of course Father was right—this world had jumped out at me, so I'd have to deal with it first. My eyes narrowed even further. Hopefully I could go home so I could deal some well-deserved justice. Soon.

I lifted my head and sped up my horse toward the strange-looking castle loomed in the distance.

Everything was numb. I couldn't tell where I was… I didn't seem to care. Why didn't I care? Normally I would question every little thing around me! Especially when I didn't know where I was!

_Something's on my chest,_ I thought groggily. _It's heavy… but_ _it's so warm…_

_Warm—_I jolted into a sitting position, looking around myself in dismay. Something soft tumbled down into my lap.

My breath caught, both in pain and surprise.

"I-hm," Fai said, his voice muffled in the blankets in the bed—_my_ bed?

"What are you doi—ah, forget it!" I snapped, remembering too late that he couldn't understand me. He blinked his abnormally large blue eyes at me, looking very much like a curious cat. "Where am I?" I mumbled to myself, looking around.

"Kuro—" Fai cried, crawling over my lap suddenly and sitting squarely on my stomach. His light weight didn't even knock the breath out of me, but it did distract me.

"What?" I growled, falling back down against the snow-white pillows of the bed as he brought his weight forward. I struggled to my elbows.

"Kuro—" he repeated, insistently.

"_What?_"

Fai cocked his head to one side, his blonde hair falling over his shoulders. His bright eyes became calculating as he perched on my chest.

_Wait a moment—_

"_Kuro-what?_" Fai asked.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

* * *

**Yes, yes. It's short. I'm kind of running between writing essays, doing homework, and this. Please bear with me. I hope you enjoyed **


	6. A Spell and a Spill

**Now things will get interesting~ I hope**

* * *

"Fai."

I turned to the voice. Of course it was Ashura-O.

He knelt down in front of me, and in turn I glared at him. My bangs fell over my eyes, and I batted them away irritably. "Want to explain yourself?" I growled.

He smiled at me sweetly. "Whatever could you mean, child?"

"You know what. The _'rescue team'_," I reminded him snidely. He clapped his hands together, with a look like he'd forgotten it already. It pissed me off even further. "_Surely_ you had an _incredibly good reason_," I added quietly, hinting at threats.

"Of course I do," he purred. "Haven't I told you? If my men receive wounds that would deem fatal, they'll go into a magic-induced coma instead. It shuts down their vital systems so they can get medical treatment later, even if they're not found for months. You can go see him in a few hours, if you'd like."

I had frozen while he was speaking. Then, with an even quieter voice, I whispered, "really?" with a weight lifting from my shoulders. One less death.

Ashura-O patted my head, fluffing up my hair. "Truly," he answered. "Even the horses still live."

Three prevented deaths. My mouth parted slightly. "And Kuro-san…?" I wondered.

The king's lips tipped up into a smile. "Yes, your 'important thing' is still alive, also. Though I would say he's a bit… what's the word? _Pissed_ at you."

"He'll survive." I bit my lip, suddenly unsure. "How upset?"

"So much that he was fantasizing fleeing thousands of times before he collapsed out of exhaustion," he murmured. My king raised his hand with a "don't ask me how I know" when I opened my mouth to speak. I snapped my mouth shut, frowning.

My eyes travelled to the tiled floor, thinking. What was so important about Kuro-san? Why would my king make me be dragged for thousands of miles by my staff just to reach him, a bloodied-up boy? Ashura-O once again patted my head.

I looked up, confused.

"Do you want to see him? He's bound to wake up any moment now," Ashura-O suggested.

I shook my head. "Kuro-san's bound to be grumpy at me still. I made him thoroughly _pissed._"

"Indeed," my king agreed, smirking at my emphasis at _pissed_. "What will you do, then? Avoid him?"

"That's also a lost cause, isn't it?" I sighed.

Ashura-O's smile became one of pity.

A silence stretched out awkwardly between us, until we began to walk in some general direction that I wasn't paying attention to. Ashura-O was leading me somewhere.

I kept my eyes on the floor as I wandered after him. I guessed he was taking me to where my staff was, wherever it was in the castle.

'_What if he's taking me to see Kuro-san?_' my conscience suddenly asked me. My head snapped up, scanning the hall we were in… Blue tiles swirled with red rubies. The sign of…

I stopped where I was, refusing to go any farther.

And Ashura-O kept walking off.

"My king?" I asked anxiously. He didn't stop. Soon he was out of my sight.

He left me alone in the medical hallway.

My muscles were bunched up, soon resulting in my entire frame quaking. Ashura-O never left me alone in the castle. Either he was here or he assigned a guard to escort me to the place I was seeking. But I was entirely alone now. The shadows stretched out everywhere. I felt a chill run along my back. I was very, utterly, alone.

Suddenly: "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"

I let loose a large yelp. It leapt from wall to wall, bouncing back at me tenfold.

Trembling, I looked around to where the voice had come from. Since it had been slightly muffled, I guessed at the room directly to my right. One of the patients? My mind told me the voice of the person had been Kuro-san's. '_How did I understand him?'_ a faraway voice asked me.

I didn't hesitate for a second when I jumped to the door where his voice had come from. I opened it swiftly, revealing a milky blue room, with a thin, but fairly wide bed with pillows white like snow. The walls were rimmed with gold, and a single small window hung to the left of the bed. Trays of medical equipment sat to the right.

On the bed… I gasped. Kuro-san was there, yes. But who was…?

"Fai?" my voice croaked, sounding far away, as if my hearing was tunneling. The boy on Kuro-san's chest sat up, turning his head to me. His mouth curled lightly into a smile.

"_Yui,_" he answered, his hair—healthy like mine—fell against his thin cheekbones. He wasn't like he was before, that corpse. He was like a mirror of me now.

I stepped forward, quivering. "Brother?" Tears brimmed.

Fai shrugged, his mischievous smile not fading.

Even when Kuro-san growled something like _"What the hell,"_ I couldn't remove my eyes from Fai, even as my brother turned away from me to him, shifting his weight gracefully.

"_Kuro—"_ Fai whispered, saying something after it that I couldn't understand. Kuro-san grumbled.

My eyes followed him as he leaned forward against the black-haired boy, and my eyes met Fai's when he glanced back. An odd look was about his eyes.

Kuro-san seemed frozen in place, just like I was as my brother slowly, deliberately turned back to the boy. Fai placed his palms on Kuro-san's chest, curling his fingers so that he had fistfuls of his shirt in his hands. "_Kuro—_" he purred seductively, leaning even closer.

My hands clenched subconsciously into fists.

The pain that blossomed in my chest was partly, and oddly, because of what _my brother_ was trying with Kuro-san, but another was because of the wisps of spirit that rose off of Fai. He was dispersing quickly. He would be gone soon, and we never even spoke more than three words to each other.

"B-Brother—" I stuttered, taking a step forward and reaching out. "Please!" A shock forced my arms to my sides, and my feet stuck to the floor. A touch of blue filtered the air.

Brother had used magic to stop me.

"Why?" I choked, straining to even breathe.

Fai ignored me, but shifted so I could see Kuro-san's face. Our eyes met—red and blue. Alarm came off of him just like it was from me, but he wasn't shivering like I was. Fai bent just slightly enough to block our eye contact.

"Protect him," he seemed to whisper to Kuro-san.

Then Fai's mouth, curled still ever-so-slightly in a smile, enveloped Kuro-san's.

Just as abruptly, he disappeared like the wind, breaking off the magic like it had never been there in the first place. We collapsed where we were, gasping at air.

My body shivered twice as violently as before. _'What the hell?'_ was my only thought, my mind couldn't form another coherent one. My hands curled around my throat as I panted. Sweat trickled chillingly under my clothes.

I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting the urge to puke. Why was my brother here? Why was he acting that way _with the boy_?

Someone touched my shoulder, guiding me up to my feet. I swayed unsteadily, forcing myself to keep my eyes closed. _Please, just kill me quick!_ The person guided me forward, and sat me down on the bed. It was softer than it looked.

I groaned, hugging myself.

"At least you're not wearing that freaking mask…" a voice muttered.

Slowly, my eyes opened. "Kuro…?"

"Oh, don't you start!" he growled, and then sighed. "What am I doing? You can't understand what I'm saying… Why do I even _try_?"

"Um, Kuro-kun…"

"_What_? Are you going to start calling me _Kuro-what_ like he had? Who was he, anyway?"

"He was calling you Kuro-what?" I whispered, a nauseous feeling swirling in my gut. "So what he said was 'what'?"

"Of course—" he froze. "Are you f*cking kidding me?"

I twitched. "Kidding what? You're the one that has suddenly started talking in my language! Don't curse at me!"

"Oh? And what can _possibly_ explain that?"

"I don't know!" I cried, leaning forward with a burst of anger. "Maybe it was that _apparition of my brother_ that did it! How should I know?"

"Your brother?" he asked, suddenly calculating. He leaned forward also. "But you called him 'Fai' didn't you? That's _your_ name, right?"

I swallowed, abruptly seeing my mistake. Now I had two choices: tell him the truth or lie.

'_You could always choose the _third_ choice,'_ my conscience told me, but I quickly shied it away. I didn't want any other deaths caused by my existence.

While I was thinking, I unknowingly let Kuro-san walk up to me. His footsteps were quiet on the tiled floor, and I didn't realize he was in front of me until I felt his hands touch my throat. My head snapped up at him.

"If you lie to me…" he began threateningly, staring at me intently.

"What could you do?" I asked back, smiling devilishly, much like my brother had. "Kill me? Go ahead. I'd love to join my brother. Why bother with reviving him when I can join him in death?"

Slowly, Kuro-san removed his hands from my neck. I watched him do this silently, putting on my disinterested mask. _'He can't do anything to stop me!'_ I realized, relaxing eternally. _'This should be easy as anything. Just leave and tell Ashura-O that the boy's well… and then send him off on his merry way! This is too simple!'_

Kuro-san slapped me across the face. Hard.

I fell off the bed with the force of the blow, falling on my side. I cried out. Tears threatened to brim.

I reached up and cupped the cheek that he'd struck. _"What the hell?!"_ angrily I shouted, those traitor tears falling over my cheeks, stinging over my forming bruise.

Kuro-san walked up to my hunched form, and hurriedly I scrambled away. He sat on his heels and pointed right at my face. "That's how it should be."

"Excuse me?" I quipped.

"You should stay freaking _true_ to yourself! Put on that f*cking mask of yours again, or even _try_ to lie to me, and I'll beat you senseless. You got that, b*tch?"

I growled. "Like mud." _'And I'm nobody's dog,'_ I added to myself.

Kuro-san stood and turned away. "Good, now you'd better lead me to where the food is, because I'm f*c—"

I don't know how or why, but suddenly I shot out at him, tackling the backs of his knees. Kuro-san crumpled forward, and I made it my goal to stay ahead of his fall, crawling up his back. His nose cracked solidly against the ground.

"I. Am. Not. Your. Dog," I insisted in a hiss, grabbing his throat.

He had been stunned by the sudden drop, but Kuro-san was recovering a lot faster than any other at his age. He groaned, shifting slightly. I saw blood pooling on the floor. But I didn't seem alarmed by the sight of someone else's blood—in fact I _enjoyed_ it. Let more blood flow!

"B…*tch," the boy grunted. I squeezed my tiny hands tighter around his throat, lifting it and slamming him back against the floor. Something audibly crunched this time.

"Call me that again, and I'll do it harder," I purred impishly. Slyly, I added: "Kuro-puppy."

"What… the…" Kuro snorted blood out his nose, and then groaned again. "…mn you…"

I laughed at that. "What's wrong, Kuro-puppy? Do you hate your new nickname? Or is it that you don't like me being myself?"

"This isn't… you…"

My eyebrows raised in false pity. "Are you sure? Maybe I was lying to you about myself from the start… you can never know someone's true personality just by being with them for hardly a day." _'See how you like that,'_ I smiled.

He shifted again, making slow, deliberate breaths.

"Aw~ don't pass out on me now, Kuro~ maybe you can help me with some new nickn—"

And suddenly I was underneath him.

"Wha—" I started, trying to squirm away from him, but he blocked me by pinning my arms above my head and by bracing a knee over my thighs. No matter how hard I struggled, he was too strong for me. _'Wasn't he about to pass out?'_

Apparently not, because his grip only got stronger as I writhed under him. He glared down at me with eyes the same shade of red as the blood gushing from his broken nose. Something warm soaked through my hair under my head, and even fresher blood spattered my eyes and cheeks straight from his face.

"What's wrong?" he panted, only slightly struggling to keep me in place. "Where'd your earlier attitude go?"

I glared up at him.

He smirked down at me.

"I'm guessing under a rock, Fai's personality is just like that: off and on."

We both froze, and then looked over toward the suddenly open doorway to the medical hallway. Ashura-O leaned in casually, and just behind him were some giggling nurses.

Fai blinked some of Kuro-san's blood from his eyes. "How long have you… been there?"

Ashura-O smiled sweetly. "That's irrelevant."

"Hardly irrelevant," Kuro-san snarled, still pissed. He got off of me swiftly, and I sat up, wiping his blood off of me with my sleeves.

"My king," I huffed, unsteadily rising to my feet and bowing to him. "Forgive me for my retched behavior before you. I will not try it again." Kuro-san glared at me, which I only saw from the corner of my eye. I focus wholly on my king.

"Rise, child. You are my equal, and don't you mean by 'I will not try it again' as 'oh, I'll be sure you don't see this next time!'?"

I stared down at the floor.

Kuro-san snickered, swiping blood off of his chin. Ashura-O seemed to notice him finally. "Ah, you are the child from Nihon, named Kurogane, correct? I have waited a long time for your arrival… though I apologize if this child from **(where was he born again?) **didn't anticipate your arrival as well."

"You never told me," I muttered under my breath, looking at a wall opposite of the two.

"Wait…" Kurogane-san said, lacking his usual growl. He was startled. "How do you know who I am?"

"You are very important to the future of this child, whose name is Fai. Even if you two don't like it, you are already involved in each other's lives. And this is only the beginning," he gestured all around us for emphasis. We stared back at him, both unhappy and untrusting.

"Why the hell did I get transported here for, then? I have to find someone!" Kurogane shouted angrily. "Did you bring me here?"

Ashura-O shook his head. "I did not bring you here. If I had wanted to, I would have had to go after you and collect you personally. No, this was the work of a greater magic than I. Only, I don't know who it was that brought you here."

"Helpful," he muttered, shooting a glance at me. I had looked over to watch Ashura-O speak, but I immediately looked away as Kurogane-san's eyes sought mine. What I had been trying earlier finally became clear to my own eyes, and I was nervous at how he would react if we ended up alone again.

"Okay, then," Ashura-O clapped his hands together, smiling largely. "How about we have some dinner, then? And then we can take a nice little stroll to show Kurogane around the palace. I'm sure the horses and men that saved you two would be gladdened to see you again."

My shoulders slumped. "Fine."

My king nodded. "But first, ladies, will some of you treat any wounds these two dealt each other? I see an obvious broken nose, but there may be more. Have them ready in an hour."

"Yes, my king," they all said in unison, obvious delight in their voices as they bowed.

"Have at it then," the king commanded, turning with a twirl of his cloak and gracefully walking down the hall, back to the main section.

When he was gone, the women looked at each other cheerfully. "Separate or together?" one of them called out energetically.

"Together!" the rest of them squealed, all of about twenty women rushing into the room instantaneously and crowding around Kurogane-san and me.

Both of us exchanged looks of horror at the women, and then our own eyes met in dismay. Only in this sort of situation can two boys that had just ended a fight between each other finally feel at ease with each other again. And backing up, we ended up bumping into the other, with women surrounding us in every space available in the crowded little room. Some even perched on the bed.

Frightened like a child, my hand reached unconsciously behind me and gripped the back of the other boy's shirt. I shivered involuntarily.

With a glance at me, Kurogane-san balled up his fists threateningly at the women.

We wouldn't get out without a fight, would we?

* * *

**PLEASE READ!**

**I sincerely hoped that you enjoyed reading this! This is the most fun I've had since starting this fan-fiction, which is within a few weeks, maybe. Please leave a comment in the review box on whether you liked this, hated it, or if you have a suggestion to make it better.**

**For the few that read this far, thank you for being patient with my crappy intro and any other crap that you might not have enjoyed here**** I feel that I terribly suck at writing, and truthfully I am only getting started in the writing world, and I have a long way to go.**

**Have a look at my newest fan-fiction 'Vampire-Go' if you liked what I wrote in this part, because I wrote the beginning of that one at the same time I did this Chapter 6, and honestly it's the best intro I've had thus far.**

**Thank you for your support! See you at Chapter 7!**


	7. Thoughts of the Mage

**With the words of an anonymous reviewer, I will try hard to write this, if only for my own satisfaction. Please feel free to enjoy this too, though!**

* * *

The dining hall was quiet, rimmed with crystal and silver all along the arches of the ceiling, and it was only us three: King Ashura, Kurogane-san and me. Silence stretched out miserably, but only Ashura-O seemed unaffected by it. He just sat there, smiling calmly as he ate into his main dish.

For me, however, was worse. I rarely had an appetite, and today was not an exception. I stared down the dead eyes of the butchered pig at the center of the long table. The three of us were spaced out, none of us wishing to be with the others—especially not Kurogane-san and me. The fight that had broken out between us and the incident with the nurses both plagued, at least, _my_ mind.

My face flushed as I remembered how the nurses had treated us. It was apparent, even with Kurogane-san's strength that the women would easily overpower us with their numbers, and it was a quick thing. They had swiftly had us stripped and searched before we could even think to react.

My face turned an even darker shade of red at the thought of seeing Kurogane-san's naked body. It was strange enough to see myself without clothes, but another being? Humans and magicians had such similar body structures that it shouldn't be natural.

I remembered clearly at how different we had looked; Kurogane-san had been completely tan with strong muscles. Healthy, fit. And then there was me; skinny and pale, looking more like a scrawny rat next to his brawny self.

The nurses had squealed when we were exposed, but became even louder when my face had instinctively blushed deeply at the realization at what they'd done. They said something about Ashura-O finding me a… what was the word they used?

Someone cleared their throat, drawing me away from my thoughts. It was Ashura-O.

He stood with elegance, shifting his eyes from me to the other boy like it was unnatural for us to be separated from each other. "You two are quiet, and you are not eating much… did something odd happen with the nurses?" he reckoned.

Kurogane-san snorted, and I ducked my head down, a new blush heating my cheeks. Ashura-O raised an eyebrow at this, but did not inquire us for more. He walked around the table along the left aisle, until he stood next to me. "Shall we go, then?" he asked with a smile. I looked up at him, embarrassed that the blush still hadn't faded from my cheeks. He held a hand out for me.

"What will… _we_… be doing?" I wondered, not wanting to include Kurogane-san in my 'we'. Kurogane-san poked his meat with a fork awkwardly, and sat his chin on the palm of his hand as if bored.

"All three of us," the king began, to assure me that this included the boy. "Will take a trip around the castle so our guest knows where everything is."

I slumped in my seat, showing them both how upset I was about this idea. Truthfully, the king had already informed me that this would end up happening, but I still wasn't happy about it. Even with Kurogane-san sitting so far off, I could picture his naked self as it had been in the hospital room. The gauze on his nose didn't even slightly sway this vision.

Kurogane-san stood up halfway, and I carefully looked away so I wouldn't end up picturing him below the waist. "Will we be seeing those horses and men that helped us?" he questioned.

"Indeed. Especially the first three. They are currently in a condition that you can visit them in."

Kurogane-san was stunned. "They're alive?"

Ashura-O nodded, but said no more.

And that was enough to get Kurogane-san interested in following the king. It was in moments that he was beside us, and Ashura-O then turned his attention back to me. I was not accustomed to wandering the castle alone, so I was practically being forced to follow them this time. King Ashura knew this, and with a tired sigh I stood, not even bothering to take my king's offered hand.

Not seeming bothered by my disagreeing nature, the king of Seresu turned and led us out of the dining hall, into the main corridor. Kurogane-san walked right at the king's heels. Dejected by the lack of opinion in the matter, I trailed after them, far behind the two.

"…There, my good boy from Nihon, is the weapon's room," I heard my king inform the boy, who gazed at it with some barely-contained excitement. Ashura-O smiled at this. "And there, outside that window, is the arena, where you can either go horse-back riding or train. The stables are to the north of it."

He glanced back at me, with that smile still plastered to his face, and I dropped my eyes immediately. There was no need to get involved with that.

"And here is the medical hallway. Of course, you already know this, don't you?"

I looked around, which only made me recall more recent memories. I flushed brightly, staring hard at the tiled flooring. And because of this I almost missed seeing Kurogane-san steal a look at my face—which was now blood-red at the cheeks. I flushed even harder when I noticed, fanning my hair over my face.

Kurogane-san turned away with a grunt, and the tour continued as if nothing had happened.

I wondered why Kurogane-san hadn't even spoken a word to me since the incident with my twin. I stopped where I was in the hallway, looking to the side, where a window showed a vast majority of the arena outside, thinking…

It had not been the first time I had questioned why Kurogane-san was here, not even close. I had been wondering that ever since he dropped down from the sky. But how it seemed all-the-more important a subject. Where had he come from? Why was he even _here?_ Ashura-O had said that he was an important piece in my life… but why?

'_If I keep this up, I'll get a migraine,'_ I told myself, frowning a little at the falling snow. _'But wouldn't he have come from a family? His home and his friends are all back there on _his_ world. He doesn't belong here. He's entirely different from me. I _can't_ go back to my birth world. He needs to get back home… somehow.'_

I blinked down at the arena, noticing something just outside the snow-covered stables. The mare from before, and she was looking right at me. I hadn't noticed her before because she blended in so well with the snow and the ice. She stamped her foot and snorted mist at me. Even from so far off, the black star on her nose was quite visible.

Unable to help myself, I raised a hand and waved. It made me feel stupid; why was I greeting a _horse_? And yet, after I did, the mare bowed her head in respect. She understood.

And I wanted _so very much_ to ask her how she did, and I felt even stupider for it.

Even so, I turned away from the window to head for the stables. Just as soon as I did, my fogged mind suddenly became clear. Weren't there two others with me?

I was alone.

Nervous, I swallowed, and I ran off in the direction of the stables. The hallway seemed to stretch, and I could almost hear Ashura-O saying how much I was under separation anxiety. I couldn't seem to care, or even feel embarrassed anymore. My heart pounded in my ears.

Surely they would be there, waiting for me… right?


	8. Horse Links

**Something must be shared before we get this Chapter 8 started—I finally own something! Yay! Beside the story, the two horses are my own, not from Tsubasa. We'll get to their names in this chapter, too, so enjoy! :3**

* * *

Running was harsh on my unfit self, but I hardly dared to slow while I raced off in the direction of the stables. The medical hallway opened up into a larger corridor, showing many doors with various color schemes. By memory, I head off towards the green one—that was the one that would take me to the arena.

If the guards or servants noticed me at all, they didn't voice it. I felt like a ghost in the way their eyes never moved when I came by, or how their conversations didn't falter. I was going too fast to feel any need to slow down and ask them why they weren't acknowledging me, so I kept running. My lungs began to ache.

I was about to double over in sheer exhaustion when suddenly I crashed into something solid and warm. I froze for a few moments, not hearing but _feeling_ the cry of surprise that came from the person I ran into.

"DAMMIT, mage! Watch where you're going!"

"Kurogane-san?" was my response, barely heard through my gasping. I tilted my head up at him, cocking my head to one side as I tried to shake off my stupor. The red of his eyes stood out from all the blue and green around us. I faintly smelled wet hay and ice in the air.

His eyes slightly narrowed at my voice, as if there was something odd about what I had said. My hands subconsciously reached forward and latched onto the back of his wooly shirt, mostly to stay upright as my breath slowly returned to me.

"Kurogane…san?" I whispered when I regained my breath. My eyes looked innocent as they reflected from the boy's, and were partly confused. It was like I was telling him: _what did I do to get you to look at me like that?_

Kurogane-san sighed impatiently, looking away. I quickly dropped my hands, noticing Ashura-O standing next to an open door, silent with that all-knowing smile of his. My cheeks warmed self-consciously.

"So, are you ready to continue?" asked the king of Seresu. Kurogane-san nodded. He took a step forward and….

"Oi, Mage? Let go of my hand, stupid wizard."

I blinked, and then looked down with surprise when I found that our fingers were intertwined tightly together. I choked a little on the air, swallowing nervously at the comprehension of what I'd done. "S-Sorry," I muttered, letting my fingers slip free.

Kurogane-san grunted, but grabbed my hand and pulled me along. Ashura led us on like nothing had happened. I flushed when I thought of the talk we would end up having about this little incident later on. I squeezed Kurogane-san's hand for comfort. He was so _warm_.

"We're going outside now," the king said, gesturing toward the open door beside him. "This, my dear boy, is one of the four doors that lead to the arena, but the only that leads to the stables. I thought it would be important that you saw the horses first—you seem to be the type who likes animals."

Kurogane-san squeezed my hand. It hurt, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out. I looked over at him in confusion.

"Yes, thank you," he said with a straight face, not looking at me.

Ashura-O nodded and waved his hand for us to lead the way. Kurogane-san walked forward immediately without hesitation. I hurried along behind him, our hands still grasped between us. The cold air that blasted me was cut off slightly from Kurogane-san, who I was sure got the entire beating from the wind. I kept close to him to give him a little warmth.

"What's up with that king guy?" I heard Kurogane-san whisper to me, barely turning his head to glance from the man to me. "I saw how you just froze there next to that window in the medical hallway, and the guy never even hesitated to drag me away. What's going on in his head?"

"Don't be rude to my king, Kurogane-san," I whispered back to him urgently, pressing closer to hear his reply better. "You are the guest in his palace. And it was my choice to stop moving. I just should have been a little smarter to not believe that King Ashura would wait for me to finish thinking."

I watched the boy's face as he scowled in thought. "That king of yours is pretty ignorant himself if he hadn't known already that you shouldn't be left alone in a castle this size."

"I know my way around here well enou—"

"But what _were_ you thinking about? What was going on through your head to make you stop following us?" he cut me off, stopping and turning to me with an insistent nature.

I started to back up, unable to move farther only when Kurogane-san yanked on my hand. _'That's right, he still has my hand,'_ I thought, slow to catch up.

Kurogane-san glanced up once, glaring at something over my head. I looked back to see the king, standing in the doorway silently with his _I-know-what's-going-on-more-than-you-do_ smile, his long black hair swaying in the freezing breeze.

When he had captured our attention, he cleared his throat. "You two can whisper all you want later, in the warmth of the palace. But for now, shouldn't you be checking on the horses?"

I looked back at Kurogane, staring as his expression turned from aggravation to surrender. His eyes that were red like rubies glared up at Ashura-O in irritation. He huffed out a mouthful of mist and shrugged, letting go of my sore hand. I rubbed it absentmindedly as we continued on to the wooden stables, making sure to keep a distance between us now.

Ashura-O's smile never wavered as he followed behind.

I focused on the ground as I followed behind Kurogane, watching the prints his boots made in the snow. Smiling to myself, I took time to step in each of the large prints, following his exact trail. His shadow shielded me from the sun above, but it didn't help with the reflection it made on the ice and snow. I squinted at the ground.

A horse nickered in front of us, and I smartly stopped before I could bump into Kurogane-san again. I looked up at the horse, delighted to see the mare with the black star on her nose. She stood next to the horse Kurogane-san had ridden on, a high and mighty-looking stallion even the tiny clearing that they walked in. All the other horses looked plain in their similar pale blue hides.

Kurogane-san walked right up to the fence and hoisted himself over it. The shaggy blue horses whinnied and backed off, pawing the snow for some hidden grass or roots. The pin stank of manure and soggy hay.

I stayed outside the fence, but watched Kurogane-san with renewed amazement. He walked straight up to his stallion, which snorted once and lowered his head to the boy respectfully. Kurogane-san patted his snout calmly.

"Have they treated you well?" Kurogane-san murmured to the stallion. The horse brayed, shaking the snow out of his fur and raising his head. The three parallel stripes on his forehead stood out at me, and I gazed at it curiously.

Something nipped my hair. I yelped and fell backward out of surprise, landing on my butt in the cold snow. I scrambled back and looked at what had frightened me. I froze. _'When did that mare sneak up at me?'_

The mare's neigh seemed to be a laugh, which made me scowl up at her. An answering roar of laughter behind her alerted me, and I turned my glare to the ruby-eyed Kurogane-san.

"Scared of a horse, mage?" he taunted.

I huffed, standing and brushing myself off with as much dignity I could muster in the situation. The mare watched me with interest, cocking her head.

'_The child is scared?'_

I froze. Who was _that_?

The mare pushed her nose into my chest as my eyes flitted around in alarm. _'The child shouldn't be frightened. After all, I am a _horse_.'_ The mare mocked Kurogane-san's voice. I shot my eyes to hers, looking into bright emerald eyes.

'_Indeed!'_ said a gruffer voice—the stallion walked up to me and butted me in the face with his muzzle, _'since when is a _horse_ the source of fright, child?'_

I stared from one to the other in shock.

"Hey! HEY! Mage, what's wrong?" Kurogane-san's voice somehow penetrated my thoughts, and I saw him walk between the two horses to shake my shoulders. "You look pale, kid! Don't pass out now, they're just horses! They aren't going to bite your face off!"

"Just… horses…?" I struggled to think. "But… if they are… then…"

"Dammit, mage! _THINK!_" he slapped me across the face. I was jarred back into reality.

"Kuro—_WHAT_—"

Kurogane-san laughed, _hard_. "Good, good! Call me Kuro-what, you little idiot! You're scared over two horses! Two _horses_!"

"I'M NOT SCARED!" I screamed, balling my fists.

"That doesn't explain why you looked like you were going to faint while the horses walked up to you and breathed in your face!" He doubled over in chortles. The two horses looked at him in confusion.

'_The boy cannot hear us?'_ the stallion asked.

'_He is not a child of magic, like this one here,'_ answered the mare.

They both snorted in unison. It was as if they were amused that Kurogane-san couldn't use magic.

"W-Who are you two?" I asked, covering my ears with my hands. "H—How come I can _hear_—"

'_Hush, child of magic,'_ shushed the mare, touching her nose to my shoulder. _'The child of war would not understand your rambles. He would deem you as crazy.'_

'_LOONY~'_ responded the stallion, trotting in place.

'_Exactly,'_ the mare sighed in my head, tilting her head at the stallion, saying, _'though in all honesty it is _this_ one who is the loon.'_

'_What was that?!'_

The stallion chased the mare several times around the pen, which gave Kurogane-san a chance to stop laughing and regain his composure. He looked around for a moment. Snow had started to fall, and the sky had darkened with a thickening of clouds. I looked up at the darkened sky, blinking away the snow that fell in my eyes.

"Where's that stupid king of yours, anyway?"

I lowered my head and looked around. It was just as Kurogane-san had said: Ashura-O had disappeared again. "I dunno," I sighed, tilting my head back up to the sky and groaning, "who knows? The king will go where he wants."

'_I believe he just wants you children to be alone together,'_ suggested the mare.

The stallion answered with a cheerful _'ooh~ naughty, naughty~'_

"Shut up," I muttered.

"'Scuse me?" growled Kurogane-san. I felt his glare on my face. I lowered my head again and closed my eyes. I felt the mist from my breath fan my over my face.

"Nothing, Kurogane-san. Just talking to the horses."

"Hmph… whatever you say, idiot."

"Should I say the same to you, then?" I opened my eyes and glared at the boy. "I'm _thinking_. Shut up already." Kurogane-san sneered.

'_Okay,'_ I thought to myself, closing my eyes again. _'Talking horses—great! Talking horses _and_ a boy without magic, from a different world altogether? Not my lucky day.'_

'_Child of magic,'_ said the mare, I waved my hand in a _give-me-a-moment_ gesture.

'_Child of magic,'_ the mare insisted. I opened my eyes and slid my eyes to her emerald ones. _'Child, we come for the sake of you two and two others.' _She stamped her foot urgently. _'We do not have much time—a moon at most. We must figure out what to do.'_

"Do what?" I asked, ignoring the strange look I got from Kurogane-san. "What are you here for?"

'_We ourselves do not know that yet,'_ answered the stallion, suddenly very serious. _'But we know that something must be done before we can find the other two we search for. Something concerning the two of you.'_

I cocked my head. "The two of us…?"

"Dude, mage!" shouted the raven-haired boy, who was abruptly shaking my shoulders again. "You're creeping me out, Fai! Is the cold getting to your head?"

I jolted, looking at Kurogane-san in alarm. "Y-You… _Fai_…"

I suddenly understood what the horses were waiting for, and I didn't like it. It had something to do with my Fai, and someone that Kurogane-san held dear. Someone he held as preciously in his heart as I had with my twin.

_Precious_

Tears began to well up in my eyes and run down my face in rivers. Kurogane-san's eyes widened in shock. "Mage?" he whispered, climbing quickly out of the pen and taking my hands in his. _So warm._

"Precious… to… him?" my voice croaked. I didn't remember speaking, the words just rolled out of my mouth as the tears streaked down my face and neck. "Precious to… me, is he?"

"What the hell are you talking about, magician?" whispered the boy, which I only faintly heard. Though I _did _feel him shake me. "Quit it. You're still creeping me out. Hold on—I'll get you where it's warm." He started to drag me off toward the palace door.

"NO!" I screamed, my eyes widening. I spun back to the horses, tugging on Kurogane-san's grip on me. "You—who are you?"

'_Child of magic,'_ murmured the mare, which rested her nose on my forehead for a moment. _'We are whoever you find us to be.'_

'_Yeah,'_ retorted the stallion. _'We _may_ both be Mokonas in disguise, but call us what you want. Name us!'_ The stallion nickered in a kind of giggle.

I nodded my head, my heartbeat pounding in my scalp. "Then… may you be Ginryu and Chi," I whispered, the names slipping from my tongue like fate destined them to be named that. And not a moment after did I collapse, sinking a warm embrace.

'_And may it stay that way,'_ I thought groggily.

* * *

**Okay, so maybe I really don't own the horses… but I hadn't gotten the idea of them being the two Mokonas until the realization came to me: OH! A black horse and a white horse + Tsubasa = Mokonas in disguise!**

**Whatever :/**


	9. Confrontation

**Thank you for all of your support and patience with this story so far! We've only gotten started! Look forward to what happens next!**

* * *

When I awoke it was warm and comfortable, nothing like it was out in the wind and icy ground. I began to wonder where I was, and I shifted in half-

consciousness to try and understand my surroundings better before I would have to open up my eyes.

There was no light that would have stained the backs of my eyelids red, so it was probably night. The comfort I felt was surrounding me even now, so I must've been in bed, nestled under the covers and almost buried in the pillows. I shifted again, but this time to find a more relaxed position to fall bck asleep in. It was warm… warm like those hands that had held mine before. How much time had passed? An hour? Two minutes? I would have to ask him…

"Oi, Mage! Don't go falling back asleep, I know you're awake."

My eyes popped open, staring into red ones not four inches away. I jumped away with a strangled sound deep in my throat—I was trying hard not to scream—but found moving immediately difficult while being cocooned in blankets. I fell back against the pillows about a foot from where I had been before.

Kurogane-san raised an eyebrow at this, but shrugged. He was lying on his stomach; his chin propped in his hand, and was looking quite relaxed. Not sleepy, just content. His eyes never wavered from me.

I tried to form a coherent question. "W-W-What a-are you…?"

The boy snorted once he understood. "That damned king of yours locked me in here while I was putting you in bed, and wouldn't let me out. Why'd you have to go and pass out like that? It was weird; you kept talking to the horses, and you looked pretty scared about it, too. And naming them…what was it…Ginryu and Chi?"

I licked my lips and sat up, looking around. "We're in my room?"

"Well, yeah," Kurogane-san sighed impatiently. "Your king led me straight here after you fainted. He didn't look the slightest bit surprised that you'd passed out, either. Seriously, mage, what is _wrong_ with that guy?" His ruby eyes glinted with anger.

I ignored that last part. I didn't want to go through the same conversation as earlier in the day. "Anything else you want to ask? Besides my king, that is."

He scowled over at me, but his eyes took on a serious look. My attention sharpened. "What gave you the incentive to naming my horse Ginryu?"

"Incentive?" I gave him an odd look. "How do you know I named _your_ horse that?"

"Ginryu is a male's name, obviously. And Chi is a girl's."

Fair enough.

I gave him a small helpless shrug. "I was on the urge to passing out, remember? I just named him what first came to my head."

Kurogane-san's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You named the horse after my family's prized sword."

"Did I?"

"Had you heard the name before, before you named the stallion?" his eyes got even more serious, and it was starting to tire me. I wanted him to stop. I wanted to go back to sleep.

I gave him a sleepy look. "No, Kurgs, I named him on a whim. Now can we stop talking about this? I'm tired."

He burst out laughing, but stopped talking at once. Confused but slightly relieved that the conversation had closed, I fell against the bed and burrowed my face into the pillows. Kurogane-san did the same on his side. Despite the fog sleepiness caused, I blushed lightly. He was _in my bed_. I tried my best to ignore this fact, but it was true.

"…Hey…"

"Mm?" I shifted and looked at Kurogane-san from the corner of my eye.

"When you were…" Kurogane-san cleared his throat, though I couldn't see whether it was an amused sound or a nervous one. "…talking to the horses, what did they say?"

"Not much, actually. Your stallion seemed surprised that you couldn't hear them also, and the mare said it was because you weren't a _"child of magic"_. Then they went on and mentioned having something important to do, something that involved us and two others," I paused, "And something about having a moon?"

"A moon is another term for a month," Kurogane-san offered.

"…So they have a month at most to do something… I wonder what it is, exactly." I kept it to myself that it had to do with people precious to us. I didn't want to give any more information on my twin brother, or to bring up something awkward about his precious ones. I dropped my face back into the pillows.

"So two horses have something important to do, huh?"

I felt a shift in the bed beside me—Kurogane-san was rolling over on to his back. Consequently, this only brought him closer to me. I hid my blush in the pillows.

I heard him sigh. "Man… my mother was a priestess, and I'm still surprised over these magic things? I should have been used to this kind of thing by now." His voice took on a harsh tone.

"'Was'?" I wondered, my voice muffled by the pillows. Kurogane-san grunted to show that he'd heard. I was amazed by how well he was hearing me. Hearing wasn't an easy thing to do with cold wind blasting the side of the castle continuously, and to add on to it my face was stuffed against fluffy fabrics.

"My mother and father are dead," he whispered quietly, which I myself barely heard. I lifted my head to get a look at his face. It was agonizingly close again, with those ruby eyes of his boring holes in my face. His face was taut, but they softened slightly at my face. "Mage," he said.

"Hm? Is there something on my face?" I asked him, but didn't reach up to wipe at my cheeks. My eyes were locked on his, unmoving.

He leaned closer, his warm breath fanning my face. "What about you?"

"Mm?"

"Your name is Fai, right?"

"Of course. Why do you ask, Kuro?" It was getting hard to think. My mind was foggy, but I couldn't seem to care. I watched him curiously through half-lidded eyes.

He leaned even closer, his breath warming my ear. I shivered delicately.

"K…Kuro-san?"

"Who was that boy?" he whispered, and I was jolted back into reality. _Of course_ he was asking about that! I squirmed away, sitting up.

Except that I couldn't move away _or_ get upright. Kurogane-san had latched his arms around my torso, holding me in an unbreakable hold against his chest. I struggled against his arms, my cheeks heating at his closeness. His ruby eyes glared down at me.

"_Don't _make me do something I shouldn't," he growled, throwing me down on the pillows and towering over me. He sat on my legs, and held down my arms with his hands.

I growled at him. "Leave me _alone_ Kurogane!"

Kurogane _tsk_ed. "So no nicknames this time, magician?"

"Let me _go_!"

I threw myself against him with as much power as I could muster without using magic and hurting him. He wasn't even jostled. The boy just shifted and held me down harder.

"_Kurogane_," I hissed.

His eyes narrowed. "Tell me what I want and I'll let you go!"

"NO!" I blasted him with magic, throwing him off me just enough for me to scramble away and leap off the bed. I ran to the door, trying to open it. He was right—it was locked. I rattled the doorknob with a colorful sting of curses. I heard Kurogane-san coughing behind me.

I spun around and backed up against the door defensively. I wasn't going to let him jump me again. He groaned and turned to face me, hunched down. Red dripped from his nose, spattering the blue and white blankets, and his eyes were full of anger.

"Mage," he said, venom leaking from that one word. I shrank back against the door, wishing it were open with the entirety of my soul. My eyes were wide, and I was sure my face was as white as bone.

I watched silently as he slowly rose from the bed, his hand holding his nose so the blood didn't drip too much, and stalked over to where I cowered. A whimper slid from my lips before I could help it. He stopped just a couple feet from me.

My arms rose to cover my face. I was sure he was going to punch me.

But, instead, he didn't move. He just stood there motionless with a hand covering his dripping nose, watching me with unmoving eyes. I couldn't tell what expression he wore.

"Kurgy?" I whispered, looking up at him through my eyelashes.

The boy sighed, and then spoke in a muffled voice; "Fai… if anything, I know what it feels like to lose someone I love. I lost my parents only a short while before I met you. So is that what happened to you? Was that boy your brother?"

Torn, I lowered my arms, staring down at the floor. "My twin," I answered helplessly.

Kurogane-san nodded like it made sense. "And you took his name?"

"I…" I swallowed. "I want t-to return it to him someday. I t-took it as a reminder."

He nodded again. "So… you want him back? I understand that. I want my parents back, too. But no one can bring the dead back to life, can they?"

"YES I CAN!" I screamed, holding my ears and trying to block out his voice. "I want him back! Nothing's going to stop me from getting Fai back! Not even you!"

Kurogane grabbed my face and forced me to look him in the eye. "If he's dead and you want him back you're only _making him suffer!_" he shouted, startling me. Tears flooded my eyes. "Let him go! Hanging on to the past will only make things worse for you and for him! Think about it! Would he—"

"SHUT UP!"

He covered my mouth with his hand, and I bit on it hard. I heard a small hiss from him, but otherwise I got no reaction. "Stop making him suffer!" he continued loudly. "Let him _rest_! Do you think he'd want you to focus on bringing him back, and therefore forget that you, yourself, have a life to live?! Do you think he's happy that you're miserable? Wake up, mage. You're only lying to yourself, just as I did when I thought I could avenge my parents by unleashing my anger on the beasts that had killed my father. Let him rest and live your own life! He's in a better place."

By the end of his little speech, Kurogane had gone from shouting to a calmer, but more serious tone. His hand uncovered my mouth, where little bite marks covered it from where I had attempted to get him off. I tasted something bitter on the tip of my tongue.

I stared up at him, cheeks stained with dried tears and eyes puffy and red from crying. He watched me try and collect my emotions silently, his form still towering over mine. I, slowly, slid down and sat on the floor, hugging my knees to my chest.

"Is it… really okay to let him rest?" I croaked, choking on sobs.

Kurogane-san kneeled down in front of me, watching my face calmly. "Always," he murmured, reaching forward and stroking my hair. His hand was warmer than ever, and those usually harsh ruby eyes were surprisingly soft and so, so unbearably close. I sobbed, letting my go of my knees just to grab the boy and pull him roughly into a hug. Kurogane's arms held me tightly, and I wanted them to never ever let me go.

I sniffled, holding him close enough to feel his heartbeat thump loudly against my chest. My tears stained into his wool shirt, but I didn't care. I just wanted him close. I wanted to feel his warmth.

The night passed without either of us budging an inch.

* * *

**I ask of you—no, I**_** beg**_** of you… please, just take one minute of your life to write a review for me. Not much—just enough to keep me going. Sure, this story is just getting started, and it's getting **_**good**_**, but that doesn't mean anything if I have no incentive to write it. Every review counts…and it counts towards keeping me writing a story I love.**

**Remember—I don't need to be writing this. I write this because I want people to hear my story, to understand my views, and to enjoy it with me. I'm not going to write a story that no one reads or comments on.**

**Thank you for your continuous support.**


	10. Distractions

**Oh… WOW. Several reviews on Chapter 9. THANKS GUYS! LOVE YOU ALL! *glomps everyone***

**Also, DOUBLE DIGITS BABY! 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10!**

**Chapter 10 is up! Thank you for all of your support!**

* * *

I heard him murmur in his sleep and shift closer to me, which made my blush brightly. Together, in my large bed, we had been talking over things that had happened to us in our lives before he had finally fallen into the pillows in sheer exhaustion and started to snore. I was tempted to fall asleep also—but how could I while feeling so jittery?

Kurgy—he'd told me to keep calling me the nicknames I began to ramble at him when I'd been angry, because apparently they showed my "true self"—breathed calmly now, no longer snoring. He had one arm over my shoulders, which had held me in place while we had shared our stories. I have to admit: many of the things I had to tell him made me want to tear out my tongue.

But I had told him anyway, fighting flits of anger at the people of my homeland and their hatred that had ruined me and my brother.

When he mentioned the bat symbol on the sword that had murdered his mother, I blanched and shakily replied that the man through the bubble in space had had a symbol like that, too. Kuro-tan's eyes narrowed at that, and he asked how I knew him. I shook my head and said that the guy had popped out in front of me and asked if I wanted to leave my prison—which I had easily said yes to.

'_So Kuro-rinta knows him to, huh? Now that I think about it… this must be the boy the man had claimed to be my enemy—because some witch had gotten to him before he had.'_ I took a moment to watch Kurogane's face, putting the pieces of our recent lives together as I gazed at his sleeping self. _'That man must be frightened of Kuro-wan-wan for something…I wonder what it is…'_

It didn't matter. No, Kuro was my _friend_ now. He helped me through so much in so little time. It didn't matter that that man had said that this boy was my _enemy_. I didn't need to bring back Fai anymore. I was letting him go, so he could be in peace just as Kuro-woof had told me.

A sharp feeling tightened in my chest, and I whimpered and burrowed my face in the pillows. I still wanted my twin back. Hell, I knew I always would. There would always be that feeling in my chest that would tell me that I could have done something to bring him back. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to block out my pain. I tried to focus on something else—the soft fabric surrounding me, the cool chill on the back of my neck where the skin was exposed to the wind, the warmth around my shoulders…

Kuro-chan shifted again and held me against his chest. He sighed through his nose, his closed eyes peaceful. Looking at his sleeping face, I myself was suddenly exhausted. Everything that had been going on in the last few days left me utterly and unexpectedly drained.

My eyelids drooped and I snuggled against him. I knew this would get a strange response from whoever decided to walk in on them, but for the moment I didn't care. I closed my eyes and clutched the warm fabric of his wool shirt in my hands.

"Kuro-tan," I whispered, before letting my mind wander around aimlessly until sleep could finally find me. I tried to picture where Kuro-pii had lived before he had ended up here. I tried to see his parents. His father would look just like him, I believed. And his mother would be beautiful. All of this was obvious, but I couldn't seem to picture them.

In the warmth around me, the chill on the back of my neck didn't seem very important any more. I was free to explore my own thoughts while being surrounded by warmth I had never experienced before. A smile tugged on my lips, which I fought as I tried for sleep again.

Kuro's arm tightened around me, and I couldn't help the next smile that lit up my face. But by then, I had already sunken into another sleep; this time with someone very important to me sleeping with me. This sleep was so, _so_ much better than any other sleep I could remember.

My eyes blinked groggily. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, yawning.

"_Hello."_

I jumped and yelped, turning quickly to the voice that had spoken. Where Kuro-burro should have been was a young girl with flowing black hair and strange ornaments decorating her. Her eyes were purple. She was sitting on the bed next to me with crossed legs, and her dress was so long that it flowed right off the bed and pooled on the ground.

I tried to lean away from her, but the blankets prevented this. "Wh-Who are you? Where's Kurogane?"

The girl smiled with an odd sadness deep in the violet of her eyes. _"He is still with you, so don't worry."_

"W-What?" I stuttered, confused. "Wait—is this a dream?!"

"_Correct."_

I looked around, finding everything but the bed to be completely black. What wasn't black was oddly luminous, like light was emanating from everything on my and on me. Shakily, I raised my hands to my face and stared at the eerie glow they were letting off.

"_I don't have very long to talk,"_ she told me quietly, to snap me from my thoughts. I looked at her nervously.

"You're what they call a Dream Seer, right? What is it you want?" My voice squeaked, which I cursed mentally at. She didn't seem at all fazed by my struggle.

She smiled lightly, kindly. Much like my king Ashura. _"You have been helped by him, right? I saw it would happen in one of my dreams."_

"Yeah, okay… so?"

"_He is still troubled by his own past."_

I flinched, staring at her wide-eyed. "His o-own past? How do I help him?"

Her smile widened slightly. _"Anxious to be helpful, are you?"_

I leaned back a little, tucking in my chin and trying to look less startled by this girl's steady stream of questions. Her Dream Seer powers were very strong—I could sense where it originated in a whole other world.

Another world.

"_I am a priestess, just like Kurogane's mother had been before she died. Kurogane had been staying in my sister's palace with me for about a week before he was sent here."_

"A week?" my voice was strangely calmer now. It seemed I was already used to the way she spoke. "So it had been a week since his parent's died? Or am I wrong?"

"_No, you're right,"_ she held her cheek with one hand and sighed. _"He was such a hard one to handle when his parents had died. He'd gone on a killing spree with his mother's corpse in one hand and his dead father's sword in the other."_

I winced with that picture in my head. But I had been surrounded by dead bodies for almost eternity before he had even tried to picture a dead body. He may not have even been born by then. I squared my shoulders and looked her in the eye. "So you want me to heal his heart? I'll do what I can."

Slowly, she shook her head. Her hair rippled like water. _"Impossible."_

"_WHAT?!_" I shouted at her, throwing my arms in the air in exasperation. "Then what am I supposed to do?! If _he_ can heal _my_ heart, it shouldn't be much harder to heal_ his_!"

She kept smiling and waited patiently for me to finish. When I had finally stopped, she took a deep breath to continue. _"I didn't mean you couldn't do it. You are already a very precious one in his heart, and you can easily heal him. It just isn't possible to heal one in a place they don't belong."_

I blinked and looked down at the bed. "So… what you're saying is…"

"_Take Ginryu and Chi,"_ she told me, nodding her head. _"They will lead you on. And you must move quickly if you and he are going to be able to finish this in a moon. Do not let your king stop you, or all will be lost."_

"Ashura-O…" I murmured, bowing my head.

"_You will meet him again,"_ she promised, and said no more. Her form began to disappear into the black. Her eyes closed.

"Wait!" I screamed, holding out a hand as if to stop her. "Tell me your name, at least! So I can prove to Kuro-tan that—"

"_My name is Tomoyo. He will know me as Princess Tomoyo,"_ she interrupted me briskly, her voice fading into the back of my mind.

"Okay," I whispered, a bit hurt that she'd broke me off midsentence. "See you soon, then, I guess."

Before she dissipated, I could've sworn she laughed. A pure, beautiful sound. Or maybe she didn't. I was conscious too soon to find out. Conscious and immediately awake. I sat up, sighing. A puff of chilly mist welcomed me. Glancing to the side, a veil of light allowed me to see the calm sleeping boy next to me. His arm had fallen from my shoulders, and lay flush with my leg.

Yup, definitely awake. I puffed out another cloud of warm air, just to watch it fade away.

'_Quickly, huh? I guess I should wake him then. We're going to his world now.'_ Thinking 'we' put a strange feeling in my gut. Jittery, but still calm. Excited, maybe? Snowbirds chittered in the windless skies outside. Why was the window open?

Trying not to think too much and get too distracted, I turned to Kuro-tan and gently shook his shoulders. He grunted faintly, but didn't react otherwise. Nothing? Wasn't he supposed to be some sort of warrior or something? I shook his shoulders again, harder this time.

He groaned, but softly. His calm face was flushed for some reason. In fact, when I saw the dark red over his face, a heat of my own flooded my cheeks. But I wasn't embarrassed…! What was—

_The window was open!_ The cold must have gotten us sick from overexposure. We had to get somewhere warmer. Fast.

By some gut instinct, I knew the door to the rest of the palace was locked, and the memory of Kuro-burro's first pair of clothes brought the thought of warmth. They had been super thin. His world had to be warm.

"Kurogane, _wake up_!" I shouted into his ear, croaking with an icky feeling in the back of my throat.

He stirred, but settled back down, shuffling closer to me.

I breathed another puff of air, in impatience. My eyes slid away from him for a mere moment before going back to him. "You want warmth, don't you?" It was a stupid idea. Absolutely, irrevocably stupid. But it was the best idea I could think of at the moment, and so I acted on it.

I brought my face close to his, breathing warm air into his face. His eyebrow twitched. Cocking my head, I was unable to stop myself from relishing in this closeness and the warmth he breathed onto my face. I had a feeling this was the last time in a while I would be near him like this. His tan, flushed face was very handsome, even in the softness of young age. I was much softer, true…and more feminine. Maybe… this was okay.

Without another time-wasting hesitation, I pressed my mouth to his. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and parted my lips slightly to breathe over his mouth. A fraction of the warmth bounced back to me, making me shiver.

The reaction was almost immediate. Within a few moments my face was being held in his hands, and his own mouth parted with mine. Something warm and wet invaded my mouth, causing me to flinch slightly. But… it was so_ warm_. I couldn't resist touching my tongue to it.

A moan escaped the mouth of Kuro-myuu. His hands tightened against my face, forcing me painfully closer. A gasp escaped my mouth. My arms wound around his neck, locking him to me. _Kuro-nya~_

'_Nya? Am I a cat now?'_ that thought made me stop.

Kuro-tan tried to bring another response from my suddenly frozen mouth. But his movements would only distract me more. I needed to get him to his world. Reluctantly, I pulled away from him, tugging at him arms and looking into his dazed eyes.

"Awake, Kuro-puu?" I purred, his hands settled on my shoulders, my fingers wrapped around his to keep him from trying to force me back to him. I cocked my head at him and feigned being a curious kitten with wide eyes. His eyes swiftly narrowed.

"_Mage_…" he growled lowly. "I don't like being played while I'm half-asleep. There had better be a _very_ good explanation for this." His tone was one for no lame excuses.

I grinned at him, once again, like a cat. "Then it's good that I have a good explanation, nya~?"

"'_Nya_'?" he hissed, yanking his hands from mine and grabbing the tops of my arms. "_Explain._"

And I did.

"…also, I figure we're both pretty ill right now. We should get going soon. Like, _now_," I finished, grinning impishly. My flushed face was burning angrily at me, just as Kuro's glare was as he digested what I said. It took him a few minutes, but slowly he nodded.

"Pretty good explanation," he admitted. His red eyes were brighter than normal. "You met Princess Tomoyo? Then this must be urgent. How will those horses get us to _another world_?"

I shrugged helplessly, struggling out of the covers of my bed—shivering at the intense cold—and crawling off the bed toward the open window. "They have a strong magic of some sort. Enough for them to talk to me… maybe they have the ability to travel worlds. Who knows? All I know is that the door is probably still locked, the window's open, and we're _sick_. We have to get somewhere warm."

"Like back in bed," he suggested, but got out of bed as he spoke. A sharp shiver travelled down his back when he stood straight.

I laughed without humor. "I wish, Kurgs. But now isn't the time." I turned to my closet and rummaged through it before bringing out two cloaks. I handed a black one to Kurogane, and put my traditional white one on. I reached back inside… and cursed.

"What?" Kuro asked.

"That damn Ashura-O still has my staff!" I sighed. "I'll have to go without it..."

A sharp banging sound came from the door. When I looked, the hinges rattled. Kurogane and I swore in unison, and rushed for the balcony. Quickly we ran. But not fast enough.

Never fast enough. Wasn't _that_ traditional!

* * *

**Please review like last time! *Fai gives you big kitten eyes and then drags in Kuro-puu and forces his lips into a smile with a swift tug. Kuro-puppy murderously slashes his sword at him, who ducks and yells "Hyuu!" joyously and begins to mewl like a cat as he's chased all around the room.***

**I'm sure you've all noticed that these chapters are all fairly short. I apologize. I try my best to get a new chapter to you all every week, so I need to keep each update around 2,000 words (more if I'm motivated to write more in a short period of time). ((BTW this Chapter was 2,493 words long XP))**

**Thanks for all of your support! Look forward to Chapter 11!**


End file.
